{"id":475650,"date":"2025-12-27T20:39:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T20:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/475650\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T20:39:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T20:39:16","slug":"army-chief-says-switzerland-cant-defend-itself-from-full-scale-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/475650\/","title":{"rendered":"Army chief says Switzerland can&#8217;t defend itself from full-scale attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1x1_spacer.png\" alt=\"Image used for representational purpose only. File\" title=\"Image used for representational purpose only. File\" data-original=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1x1_spacer.png\" class=\"lead-img\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">\n                    Image used for representational purpose only. File<br \/>\n                                          | Photo Credit: Getty Images\/iStockphoto\n                                      <\/p>\n<p> Switzerland cannot defend itself against a full-scale attack and must boost military spending \u200dgiven rising risks from Russia, the head \u200bof its armed forces said.<\/p>\n<p>The country is prepared \u200cfor attacks by \u201cnon-state actors\u201d on critical \u200binfrastructure and for cyber attacks, but its military still faces major equipment gaps, Thomas Suessli told the NZZ newspaper.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we cannot do is defend against threats from a distanc eor even a full-scale attack on our country,\u201d said \u200bMr. Suessli, who is stepping down at the \u2060end of the year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s burdensome to know that in a real emergency, only a third of all soldiers would \u200bbe fully equipped,\u201d \u2060he said in an interview published on Saturday (December 27, 2025).<\/p>\n<p>Switzerland is increasing defence spending, modernising artillery and ground systems and replacing ageing fighter jets with Lockheed \u200cMartin F-35As.<\/p>\n<p>But the plan faces cost \u200coverruns, while critics question spending on artillery and munitions amid tight federal finances. Mr. Suessli \u200dsaid attitudes towards the military had not shifted despite the war in Ukraine and Russian efforts \u200dto destabilise Europe.<\/p>\n<p>He blamed Switzerland\u2019s distance from the conflict, its lack of recent war experience and the false belief that neutrality offered protection. \u201cBut that\u2019s historically inaccurate. There are several neutral countries that were unarmed and were drawn into war. Neutrality only has value if it can be \u2060defended with weapons,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Switzerland has pledged to gradually raise defence spending to about 1% \u200bof GDP by around 2032, up from \u2060roughly 0.7% now \u2013 far below the 5% level agreed by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries.<\/p>\n<p>At that pace, the Swiss military would only be fully ready by around 2050. \u201cThat is too long \u2060given the threat,\u201d Mr. Suessli said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"publish-time-new\"> Published &#8211; December 27, 2025 10:30 pm IST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image used for representational purpose only. File | Photo Credit: Getty Images\/iStockphoto Switzerland cannot defend itself against a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":475651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[215575,215576,215574,50,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-475650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-arms-and-ammunitions","9":"tag-defence-spending-of-switzerland","10":"tag-defence-system","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115793466093670273","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}